Mine
by Prairiefire
Summary: A skilled hunter and tracker, Barricade always finds what he is looking for.  Too bad for Nina, he's quite possessive too.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I own no part of Transformers (except for what they sell me in stores) and make no money from the writing of this story.

**Beta:** I would like everyone to give Muse of Scrolls a round of applause for beta reading for me as well as kicking me in the butt to keep writing.

**Updates:** Will be irregular. I have no schedule and am finding this a very hard story to write character wise. But that is the challenge.

**Reviews:** I respond to all signed, concrit reviews. While I appreciate all reviews, those that just demand updates have already been addressed in the preceding note.

**Author's Note:** This is the first TF fanfic I ever started working on, even though I've been a fan since the original series and have posted another. This story has been in the works since the release of the first movie. This story is movieverse 07 and takes some details from the comics/novels and ROTF. It is not, however, ROTF compliant. I reject that the war has only been going on for 17,000 years when every other continuity has it as running in the millions of years. I also reject that Megatron would take orders from anyone, nevermind someone who can't even stand on his own for most of the movie. Just not going to happen.

**Mine**

**Chapter One**

Bored. Bored. Bored. Barricade was beyond bored. Not only that but he was angry. Angry at being stuck on this dirtball of a planet. Angry that Starscream had abandoned him. Owing him no allegiance, Barricade had left his post. Spying on Autobots was boring, never mind dangerous. The sole Decepticon on the planet, he would have stood no chance if he was found. So he left, to Pit with Starscream and his orders.

To cover his aft if Starscream ever came looking for him, unlikely though it was, he did stay in the same state. Still, he had to deal with the boredom. He had nothing at all to do and it was grating on his processors. A mech of science, he could feel them rusting for lack of use.

In the months following the disaster of Mission City as he recovered from his injuries, he created himself a game to stave off the boredom. It wasn't anything like the strategy or racing games of Cybertron, but it would do until he figured out something better. He just had to refrain from killing too many humans so he wouldn't attract too much attention. It was a shame but played right just instilling terror and panic could be enough to take the edge off his circuits and keep him from a boredom related deactivation. Spook-the-human could be fun even if it didn't result in much of a chase.

Barricade's current favorite prey, a young female, dashed into one of the dark alleys lining the street. Always so jumpy, she would take off at the first sight of him. He had modified his original game to see how close he could get before she spotted him. Her routes of escape would lead all over the city core, becoming a distracting way to map the area.

It had been two weeks since he had first noticed her. Flighty thing that she was she apparently knew the city well. Ducking into alleys was her first evasive maneuver, though it didn't work that well for her when his vehicle form could easily follow. Then came the blocked or gated alleys where she would hop over the fence and disappear before he could turn around and find the exit. Narrow alleys came next and again she had a temporary advantage. She also had no problem doubling back once Barricade had left to find another way around the blockade.

This all meant little to Barricade. He was a hunter and the more challenging the hunt the more rewarding it was. She would never be able to trick him twice on the same route. When he knew he couldn't follow her path directly he would speed ahead and cut her off. She had tried this only once and had quickly been cornered.

For two weeks he hunted her like a turbo fox, rooting her out of whatever shelter she had found with a blip of his siren and a flash of his lights. She would grab her bag and run like her life depended on it. He would chase her until he had her cornered, making sure she knew that she was caught, that she was at his mercy.

Then, when she was scared enough in his opinion he would spin around and peel out to find another hunt.

Why he kept coming after her he didn't know. As long as she remained entertaining he did not care. She made for an interesting diversion but he could flush any of the squishy pests around him into doing that. Perhaps because it continued to be the only fun he got and this human always seemed to be around. She appeared to be about the same age as the boy, ladiesman217, and what the insects would call "homeless."

Barricade's engine revved harshly with scorn at the idea. There was no way a human could understand what it was to be homeless when they were overrunning this whole planet.

Tonight was different though. He had not started the chase with his little organic turbo fox. In truth, he hadn't even been looking for her. The human had run in front of him, not seeing his form or any of the other cars in the street. He stayed stopped where he was, sensors tuned to her retreating form despite the protestations of the cars behind him. There was a squeal from another siren as a Las Vegas PD squad car roared out of the alley opposite the one the girl had vanished into.

Not liking this one bit, Barricade turned to follow. He liked chasing this particular human around. If the human law enforcers caught her it was likely that he would lose on any future chances to torment and tease her. It would most certainly not do for these insignificant bugs to take away his entertainment.

With his running lights off he rolled down the alley behind the other cruiser. He made sure to follow far enough back that he wouldn't be noticed in a quick glance. The girl kept running from the other car, dodging the trash littered on the ground. Barricade followed unseen as she bolted out of the alley and across another street. She narrowly missed an early end on the front grill of a large white pick up. The driver, none to happy with the sudden stop, expressed his displeasure with a long blast from the horn. It stopped when the black and white cruiser with flashing lights streaked past.

As the girl vanished down another backway Barricade pulled onto the street. Deciding it was time to get ahead of the game he sped past the entrance and headed to where this particular passage emptied. He planned to cut the girl off and hopefully make the humans back off his property.

As he sat and waited for the girl to reach him he was silent, listening to the oncoming siren. He heard her pounding feet a few moments later, the squad car still following. The girl skidded to a stop before him, terror plain on her face as her chest heaved. She was surrounded and for whatever reason did not want to deal with the police. Her wide eyes stared straight into his holoform's sunglasses until the other car pulled up behind her. All this while Barricade sat motionless, waiting to see what would happen next.

The girl whipped around and started to back away from the approaching car, she angled herself to slide around his passenger side. The pursuit car skidded to a stop twenty feet away and cut the siren. As the driver got out the girl backed closer to Barricade's passenger door.

"Nina, get back here," the officer yelled to the runaway. "Don't let her get away," he added to the other police car in the alley.

The girl, who had been pathetically trying to use him as a hiding place, gasped and backed away from him when she realized he was also a police car. Barricade snickered to himself and opened his passenger door. He had no intention of letting her get away, but he wasn't about to give her up to this trespassing fleshling.

When the girl saw the door open she stumbled away and fell on her backside. She stared into the leather bound interior of the Saleen, frozen where she had fallen. Barricade kept a sensor on her, ready for the chase again if she bolted. The cop walked confidently toward them but faltered when he saw the door swing open which obscured his view of the girl.

Fists clenched and face flushed with rage as the cop took another step forward. "Don't you dare, she's mine!" The shout rang out in the alley though it did not draw any attention from the surrounding buildings.

Barricade's holoform stared back at the advancing officer, unimpressed by the puny display of temper. Barricade snorted in disgust and turned his imitation driver to the girl, the first time it had moved for either human to see. With a blank face hidden by reflective sunglasses and an emotionless voice he addressed her.

"Come with me if you want to live."

The girl swallowed hard and shifted her gaze to the other human who stood five feet in front of her tormenter's push bar. He took one more step towards them and she bolted for the open door. Scared as she was she never noticed the door snap shut on its own behind her.

"This isn't your business," the irate cop yelled. "Give her to me!" He had reached Barricade's bumper and slammed a fist onto the black hood to accentuate his demand.

Barricade, in response to the invasion of his space, revved his engine hard and spun his tires in a threat to run down the insolent fleshbag. Bad enough one sat inside him, but to have one strike him was too much. He let go of his brakes and shoved the man over hard.

The aggressive attitude immediately left the prostrate man. Point made, Barricade threw himself in reverse and floored it backwards out of the alley. Dazed, the other cop watched from where he had fallen as the other cruiser just missed another car as it backed onto the road. Shock turned to indignation as the interloping car pulled out of view. He sprang up from where he landed and sprinted back to his own car.

The cop slammed himself into the driver's seat and followed the other car. As he came up to the street he turned to the right, expecting to see the other car at most a few blocks away. He scanned up the street but there was no sign of the car that had picked up his quarry.

The officer, Davis, cursed and reached for his radio mike before he paused. His chase had not been cleared by dispatch and it would put another write up in his jacket. He really wanted to know who interfered with his business but could not chance someone finding out what he had been doing.

Finally he decided how to word his query he keyed the call button, "Dispatch, 701 respond."

"Copy 701, go ahead," the dispatch's static-laced voice came over the receiver.

"Query, who's riding 643 tonight?"

There was a long pause on the radio as the dispatcher checked the rolls, "701, there is no unit 643 listed."

Davis furrowed his brow before he called back, "Disregard dispatch. I must have read wrong."

"Affirmative 701. Respond to alarm call at..."

Davis noted the address and made his way to the call. The whole time he wondered who had been driving that car. He seethed when he thought about how close he had come to getting the brat back. He decided he'd pull the footage from his dashcam at the end of his shift and find out the unit number. Then he'd track down who had taken her and where she was hiding now.

XXXXXX

The human sat motionless in Barricade's front seat. City buildings passed by quickly as he made his way out of town. He shuddered as his sensors registered the filth covering his passenger, never mind the human itself. It was doing itself a rather large favor by not squirming. If it had and dislodged more dirt onto his interior he might have just reacted by ejecting her from the seat or squishing her. Squishing, however, was messy, something he wanted to avoid.

The tall buildings and shops gave way to single family homes and then eventually to star lit highway. An hour passed before either entity spoke, and Barricade's sensors had remained tightly trained on the girl the entire time though his holoform's eyes stared straight ahead at the road.

The girl trembled slightly, her heart still raced and she felt very trapped. Barricade watched her closely and waited for her to crack like he expected. She was no warrior, she wouldn't last long. When one hour stretched into two he began looking for a place to stop out of sight. All the while she sat on his imitation leather, clutching onto her bag with white knuckles.

A campground closed for the season provided the privacy he was seeking. He pulled into a spot well-surrounded by trees and let his engine shut off. With darkness all around them he waited, his dashboard lights the only thing illuminating the frightened girl's expression. With the patience born of a natural hunter Barricade let the minutes tick by, watching and waiting. Her eye's betrayed her first as they darted to his holoform.

"My research of your information network shows that it is customary to say 'thank you' when someone helps you," the deep voice vibrated through the car. The girl flinched away from the driver and huddled near the passenger door.

"Th-thank you for your help, sir," the voice that replied was tiny and scared. It sent a thrill through Barricade's form and for a moment he could just imagine her squeal and scream as he crushed her in a servo or under a pede.

They sat in silence again as Barricade's engine ticked as it cooled. The girl looked ready to run the second the opportunity presented itself. Barricade, for his part, was unconcerned with that. He would hunt her down again if he had to, though there was a certain satisfaction in knowing that he had caught her and he now physically held her.

"Are you going to kill me now?" the girl finally asked, breaking the silence.

Barricade flung his passenger door open then, toppling the girl to the damp ground. She scuttled backwards away from him with her eyes wide. As she watched Barricade let his driver fade from view. Seeing the man disappear the girl squeaked and turned to run.

"Don't try it, fleshling. You know I will find you." The voice was quiet but commanding and the girl froze where she was before slowly turning back to face the car. Her full attention was on the car as panels started to slide and the body of the car folded in on itself as two legs appeared. Two arms followed quickly as did a head with four red eyes that bored into her own. Before her stood a black-and-white giant robot.

The girl gasped and took a step back. The robot moved so fast she didn't even see it coming. The giant hand, almost as big as her body, roughly rolled her to the ground and slammed down by her head as it yelled at her.

"I said no running!" The girl whimpered and covered her head with her arms though they offered meager protection.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she sobbed desperately.

Barricade growled as he narrowed his optics at the human who cowered on the ground. It was pathetic and cowardly, prostrated there as it awaited his judgment. He had pondered through the years what use such a species could be. The girl continued to shake on the ground, trembled in fear-induced hysteria. As he stared at its small form Barricade had his answer for this human's use. He stood back up to his full height and glared down at the girl.

"Get up, human. You need to remove the filth from yourself. There are washracks ten meters down this road, you have fifteen clicks to get it done and get back here." The girl stared up at him, not believing what she heard. "Move! Do not make me come look for you or I will do more than pursue you."

Without another thought the girl sprinted to the only building she could see. She stripped down in seconds and stepped under a cold spray of water. She cried as she scrubbed weeks' worth of sweat and grime from her body. With no soap or shampoo of her own she had to make due with the remnants in the dispenser on the side of the shower.

In less than ten minutes she was as clean as she had been in weeks. She dried with the paper towels that hung by the sink and was dressed in her only other set of clothes. She stepped out of the washroom as Barricade pulled up, his door open and message clear. The girl slid into the seat and the belt snaked around her and snicked into place. She didn't know what was going to happen but knew she wouldn't have much of a choice in what was to come.

Barricade got back on the highway and started east. As the miles rolled by he began to relax, the pressure on his passenger seat filled a void he had refused to acknowledge in the past months. He noted the girl's heart had slowed a bit and some of the tension had left her muscles.

"Where are we going?" the girl asked almost drowsily. She didn't know where to look as Barricade had not engaged his holoform so she focused out the windshield. The adrenaline from before had almost run out and she did not have the energy left to feel afraid.

"New York," Barricade's reply was gruff and instant. He thought nothing of answering her question. There was nothing she could do about it anyway. "I have a use for your there."

"Oh," the girl stared out ahead silent for a moment. "My name is Nina."

"I did not request your designation, human," Barricade snarled at her. Truly, he didn't want it. She was little more than a drone to him now, to be used then discarded. They had no use for designations therefore neither did she.

"Sorry," she, Nina, cringed back into the seat. "I, I just thought you would want to know. It's a long way to New York."

Barricade huffed, "Not that long." At the human's silence he thought briefly on the logistics of transporting an unwilling human across the continent and decided to try a different tactic. It would be a complete reversal of his previous behavior with her but it would be better than to keep the creature chained to him. "I am designated Barricade. You, human designated Nina, now belong to me."

Nina gulped but nodded. She remembered being told it would be best to obey for now and watch for an escape. The robot might lower its guard later, closer to somewhere she could get help. Eventually the steady thrum of Barricade's engine and his tires on the pavement lulled her into an uneasy doze.

With sensors turned to the human in his seat Barricade knew when she finally drifted off. As her breathing slowed and deepened he picked up his speed. His bulk roared down the highway, posted speed limit ignored. If the fleshy enforcers even registered him on their primitive detectors they wouldn't have a chance of catching him.

Nina sighed and shifted which caused Barricade to shift an optical sensor to his interior. The girl remained in recharge and quiet, not at all like the frightened little glitch mouse he had played with earlier. Still he had caught his prey and no one would miss her. Nobody missing her would mean no Autobots on his aft which would be nice too.

Better still he finally had a plan to get his partner back and the little squishy femme was going to help him do it. He rolled down the pavement and thought of his latest acquisition, 'I always get what's mine.'


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I own no part of Transformers (except for what they sell me in stores) and make no money from the writing of this story.

**Beta:** I would like everyone to give Muse of Scrolls a round of applause for beta reading for me as well as kicking me in the butt to keep writing.

**Updates:** Will be irregular. I have no schedule and am finding this a very hard story to write character wise. But that is the challenge.

**Reviews:** I respond to all signed, concrit reviews. While I appreciate all reviews, those that just demand updates have already been addressed in the preceding note.

**Author's Note:** This is the first TF fanfic I ever started working on, even though I've been a fan since the original series and have posted another. This story has been in the works since the release of the first movie. This story is movieverse 07 and takes some details from the comics/novels and ROTF. It is not, however, ROTF compliant. I reject that the war has only been going on for 17,000 years when every other continuity has it as running in the millions of years. I also reject that Megatron would take orders from anyone, nevermind someone who can't even stand on his own for most of the movie. Just not going to happen.

**Mine**

**Chapter 2**

Nina woke with the sun shining in her eyes and warming the car she was sitting in. She rubbed lazily at her eyes before looking around outside. She startled briefly as she noticed she was definitely not in Nevada anymore. They were sitting near a small bluff of trees, surrounded by plainsland. The blue sky opened huge and sparkling with no clouds to be seen.

The robot car didn't stir though Nina had started to squirm. Sleeping in the car's, Barricade's, seat had left her back and neck stiff and sore. Her full bladder was also complaining. Hoping her captor was asleep or something akin to it, she unbuckled the seat belt which gave no resistance. She reached for the handle and prayed that he wouldn't wake up.

As Nina's hand closed on the handle the door locks snapped down. Barricade had come out of recharge as soon as his sensors registered the human rousing. He had been expecting her to bolt at the first opportunity; he just needed to wait for it to happen. Then he would teach her the next lesson in obedience.

"I said no running, fleshling." Barricade deliberately lowered his voice, fairly growling at the girl.

"I'm sorry. I, I just…" Nina stammered trying to find her voice, certain she wouldn't have a second chance to explain.

"You just what, insect?" He was not happy with the girl, but he knew it would happen sooner or later.

"I have to go to the bathroom," Nina cried. "Please, I promise I won't run, I won't go far."

Barricade paused then unlocked and opened his door as he muttered, "Disgusting." Nina took that opportunity and ran to hide behind a bush.

Slowly, once she had relieved herself, Nina made her way back to Barricade's waiting open door. Once Nina was inside he snapped it shut himself. He could have used more recharge but now that he was online there was no reason not to get on the road.

Miles and hours rolled by as the fake police car cruised down the highway and Barricade's engine hummed with pleasure. Finally he had a purpose and a goal again. Though the girl was far from an ideal companion, she was a lot better company than the treacherous and egotistical seeker Starscream who had abandoned him on this dirt ball.

It was midday when Barricade heard the soft growling. It was not any of his parts, no error messages had popped up on his HUD. The girl, Nina, who had been sitting placidly watching the scenery, was now clutching her abdomen.

"What is wrong with you now?" Barricade's question did not come from any concern for Nina's well being. He had seen on the internet what a sick human could do. He wanted that happening inside his cab about as much as he wanted an exhaust system purge.

"It's okay really. I'm just kind of hungry," Nina told him as she tried to smile reassuringly. Unsure where to even direct it or if it even helped she let it drop from her face.

Barricade had not given much thought to how he was going to get the girl to New York. He knew humans refueled frequently but had not processed how to get that fuel. Irritated that he would have to stop again while he was making good time he scanned ahead but could not find any human establishments within range.

"At the next stop you will purchase enough food to last a day," Barricade told her. "I will not be stopping constantly just for you."

Nina agreed and leaned back in the seat. The growling from Nina's stomach continued into the afternoon though both beings ignored it. The first place they saw was a gas station sitting by the side of the road, forlorn and nearly deserted.

Barricade rolled up to the front door and allowed Nina out. He reminded her to be quick about it and kept his scanners on her as she rushed around the store. She ran out and jumped back in his interior in less than five minutes.

As Barricade drove Nina ate, polishing off a stale sandwich and a past-its-prime apple. She had just finished a cheese stick when Barricade asked her something that had been bothering him. Again, this wasn't out of any concern for her welfare. He was worried about the likelihood that someone would miss her. A girl being seen taken by an unknown and mismarked police car could draw Autobot attention.

"So, girl, what were you doing out there all alone?' He let a small, malicious sneer seep into the end of his question. He had stalked her for weeks and there didn't appear to be anyone searching for her. He found this unusual as she was obviously young, of an age that still resided with the progenitors. From the internet he had found that human creators tended to become frantic when one of their younglings disappeared. He had encountered no such people.

Nina put her meal away and bowed her head, "I ran away."

"Ran away, hmm? So you make a habit of it." Barricade already knew she was a runner, a coward that would rather flee than stand and fight. Still, that did not explain why a youngling would run away from her home and creators. There had to be more to her story and he wanted to know it. "Why?"

Nina curled up in the seat, wrapped her arms around her knees and shivered, "I don't want to talk about it."

Growling lowly at being defied Barricade countered, "I do. Why did you run away from your creators?"

"I can't. He'll kill me for sure," Nina chokingly sobbed into her knees.

"And I won't?" Barricade's voice had dropped even lower as his patience ran shorter. The girl had seen him in his bipedal form. She had been manhandled and threatened by him, yet there was still someone she feared more.

A little fascinated by the idea that there was someone on this planet that would scare the girl more than him, he pushed her again. "You are mine. Whoever he is, he will not kill you."

No one had ever doubted how possessive, as well as competitive Barricade was, and he would not be out done as the most intimidating living being on this planet. He demanded again, "Who is he?"

Nina hiccupped once more before answering, "He's my father." Once the last word was said, pushed out as a hoarse whisper, she crumbled back into her tight, miserable ball and silently sobbed.

Barricade said nothing after receiving the information he wanted. While it defined logic that her sire would want to kill her, violating the species biological imperative to reproduce, he was not particularly interested. The important thing to him meant that there would likely be no official search for this human, therefore no tip off to the Autobots that he was still active.

Ready to lay the matter aside for the night, Barricade only listened with half an audio when Nina spoke up. "Are you going to make me go back?"

In truth Barricade had no plan on dragging her around with him after he had her retrieve Frenzy. At best he had planned to leave her in New York. He had also considered killing her making sure she would never be able to reveal him. The only problem with that plan was that it might, in and of itself, bring attention he did not need. Truthfully he didn't want to think about what he would do with her. He only wanted to focus on getting his annoying partner back.

"No," he replied after a moment. "You will not have to go back there as long as you stay with me and follow my orders."

Nina let out a deep breath and relaxed against the faux leather seat. To her, even being ordered around by the aggressive car she was currently riding in was better than what she would receive at home. Wiping the tears out of her eyes she asked, "What are we doing in New York?"

"We will be retrieving my partner. He was incapacitated and taken there. The human holding him does not realize he is still operational, if heavily damaged."

"How could people catch one of you guys?" Nina worried, "You're so big." By the sounds of Barricade's plan they were going to have to break into someplace that was capable of containing huge robots. Considering she hadn't heard about huge alien robots landing, chances were the government didn't want people to know about them. So it sounded to her like they were headed for an Area 51 type place.

All but grunting his reply, "The idiot incapacitated himself." At Nina's wide-eyed stare he added, "He's small, too. Smaller than you originally." Barricade snickered then as the last image he had of Frenzy flashed through his processor. "Even smaller now."

Nina sat silently as Barricade laughed at his private joke. She settled back into the seat and watched the scenery pass. The fence posts flashed by nearly hypnotizing her before Barricade spoke again. "Will you require a stop before recharging?"

"Hmm, what? Sorry," Nina groggily responded, wiping her eyes out with one hand.

"Do you need to stop, human? It is a simple question," Barricade said mockingly. "Do you need to take care of your waste systems?"

"Oh, sort of," Nina looked down, the same look of embarrassment on her face as earlier that day. "Can we stop at the next place? Please?"

"We can stop, but do not try my patience," Barricade told her.

"I won't," Nina submissively replied. It was not long before she could see the lights of the next city. Just thinking about a bathroom triggered her need in force until she was squirming desperately in her seat.

Barricade pulled in next to the first open service station they saw. Nina took care of her business and rejoined Barricade in less than the time he allotted her.

As they pulled away Nina started to ask a question then thought better of calling Barricade's attention to herself. Easily reading her hesitation he pressed her with a mockingly bored tone. "Ask your question."

Nina bowed her head, nervous that she had been caught and not wanting to annoy her captor. Swallowing and deciding it would annoy him more if she didn't respond as he ordered, she quietly forced out, "What about you? Do you need gas or something?"

After being bored and alone for so long Barricade decided that talking with the organic riding with him wouldn't do any damage. "No, I do not need to utilize fossil fuels at this time. Currently my systems convert solar radiation into useable energy for myself. Additionally I carry a reserve of fuel designed for my kind."

Barricade saw no reason to inform her that the reserve was running dangerously low no thanks to Starscream. The aft-headed slagger had left him stuck on Earth to spy on the Autobots but had not left him any extra energon to repair himself with after Ironhide ran him into that freeway column. Solar synthesized energon would work but it was nowhere near as good or as potent as the real stuff.

"What is it like," Barricade inquired. "What is it like for a human to be low on fuel?" He really couldn't help it. In addition to being a shock trooper, he had been one of Megatron's finest interrogators and a decent scout when necessary. Curiosity was an essential trait in a scout and as an interrogator when he wanted information he got it. So far the girl had been obliging in giving it to him.

"It starts out being uncomfortable and then it can start to hurt," Nina said as she wrapped her arms around her stomach. "When it starts to hurt you'll eat anything."

"I have seen humans eat of out refuse containers," Barricade supplied. "It was disgusting."

"It's embarrassing, too," Nina said quietly. "So embarrassing that you don't want anyone to see you but you're so desperate that you don't have a choice. Most of the time you're hungry but sometimes you find enough so that it doesn't hurt anymore."

"When you can't find any fuel for too long your body starts to cannibalize itself," Barricade supplied. It was such a strange idea, to pull matter from the body mass and convert it into energy. Even to store extra energy as body mass instead of in its usable form in accessible storage tanks was a novel idea.

"I guess," Nina said uncertainly. "You're always tired too, and you can't think straight."

"Then you should refuel. It has been a while and I will need you thinking clearly once we get to New York."

Nina obediently pulled something to eat out of her pack and quickly devoured it. All the time she was careful not to get any crumbs on Barricade.

As the two beings travelled the sun sank below the horizon behind them, revealing a blanket of stars and no moon. As the night spread Barricade had picked up speed well beyond the legal limit. The extra miles would put him in range of his target location for the next day. He had hoped to make it to the New York state border, then he would recharge and make sure he was ready to get out of town fast. Frenzy's report, garbled though it had been, had indicated he was being held by a rogue human, not one of their government or military agencies. It was still prudent to get far away from the area as fast as possible in case he did alert somebody to the theft.

As his sensors watched a herd of deer approach the highway in front of him his passenger shifted. He sent out of high frequency pulse to scatter the animals away from the road her asked her, "What is it?"

The squirming no longer annoyed him. He was beginning to think of it as the same as Frenzy's near constant animation.

"You're from out there, right," Nina asked as she looked to the stars as the glittered high above.

"Yes," Barricade told her. "A planet called Cybertron."

"Do you miss it?"

Barricade took a moment to think. Did he miss Cybertron? It had been so long since he had been there he just didn't think about it anymore. It was true that the search for the Allspark (and Megatron) was supposed to be for the purpose of building an army to crush the Autobots and restore Cybertron to glory.

It appeared, more and more frequently, that the majority of Decepitcons had forgotten about the restoring Cybertron part. The war had turned into a clan feud, Autobot versus Decepticon, and that was enough reason to fight. While Barricade liked fighting Autobots, an energon feud was not the reason he sided with the 'Cons.

Megatron's original revolt was because the senate refused to give him the means to protect their home world. That call to arms is what Barricade answered. He had functioned as a guardian every cycle of his existence and an appeal to his protection subroutines could not be ignored. By the time the order to destroy the youth sectors was given the faction divides were too steep and too wide to cross even if he had wanted to.

"Yes I do," Barricade finally answered. "But it is lost now; we will never be able to restore it." Pain lanced through his spark as he realized how much he did miss his home. With the Allspark destroyed there was no way to restore his world and he would likely be stuck on this planet until he ceased to function, either from lack of fuel or being found by an Autobot.

"So you can never go back," Nina sympathized.

"There is nothing to go back to."

"Oh," Nina sounded more subdued. "So you're stuck here?"

"It appears so, for however long I last," he ruminated. How long could he stay ahead of the Autobots? Eventually someone would spot him he was sure, and then what? He doubted the Autobots would tolerate a Decepticon on this planet, even if he wasn't causing major trouble.

"So that's why we need to get your friend? Strength in numbers?"

"If he still functions, he can help us avoid detection," Barricade told her.

"You know, stealing stuff, like your friend, from the government is going to be noticed."

"He is not _stuff_ and we are not stealing from the government. A former agent of theirs has already taken him. I doubt he will want to draw any more attention to himself than we would, especially about something that is classed beyond top secret."

It had gotten later into the evening, the pink and orange sky had turned to dark blue. Nina stretched as much as she could in the front seat of the Saleen and yawned.

"So we're breaking into what? His house?" Nina yawned again waiting for an answer.

"Possibly, but I will tell you tomorrow. Now you are exhausted and your processor is not at peak efficiency. Anything I say now will likely have to be repeated anyway."

Nina sighed heavily and wriggled, trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in the upright car seat. "Okay. When are we going to get to New York anyway?"

"Probably tomorrow night sometime if we make it through Chicago quickly. We'll be getting Frenzy out the night after."

"But that's not even three days," Nina said. "Shouldn't it take longer to get to New York from Las Vegas?"

"Maybe for one of your cars with a squishy driver. I am faster and the only stops we make are for you and a couple hours recharge for me. By your human standards we are making good time."

"How fast," Nina barely breathed out as her eyelids drooped.

"My top speed is 300 mph but I have not taxed myself." Barricade waited for a response but it never came. Nina had fallen asleep curled in her seat, head resting on the window.

Barricade increased his speed and continued to cruise west. He stayed at nearly 300 mph, jamming authentic police radar systems when he needed to until the traffic got too heavy. When it got so jammed with rush hour traffic in the morning near Chicago he found a spot to pull off out of sight and initiated his own recharge cycle.


End file.
